Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Chasing the Dream

If you want to trap and run a longline Southeast would be the place to do it. Lots of Marten, Mink, Otter, Wolf to name a few.

I would also vote in the southern portion. Given that I enjoy hunting and fishing I find that area the best compromise.

I can go fishing, more often for less money than hunting. But when I want to go for something with horns, a bush plane is an easy thing to pay for (Or not!). So i'd rather fish my heart out near the coast, and really plan for the twice/once yearly bush hunt. (With a couple DIY hunts planned in between)

I'm not wealthy by any stretch, I don't drive flashy cars, or waste too much money gettin' drunk. That being said I wouldn't be able to do everything I wanted all the time with regards to hunting/fishing. Much like when I lived in Pierre, SD the fishing was a 'jump in the truck and drive a couple minutes' equation that demanded little cost. (Unless you are a loony or fly fish) While the hunting, though vastly different from AK in cost and style, took more planning. I enjoyed both, and fishing was my daily activity. Hunting was my planned special activity. But in the next two or so years I will be making the pilgrimage back up.

I think this is pretty close to the perfect answer to your inquiry. (I'm sure it's exactly what you've always dreamed and pictured too. )

Homer, if you can stand the old hippies. Salt water, halibut, clams, crabs etc. Not much rain.

No such thing as the perfect location in AK.

If you can score 4 weeks off a year in Sept, and you make good money, SE is the place to move. You get the fishing, deer, goat, and bear hunting in SE. Not to mention trapping. And you can do it from your doorstep and not have a bunch of a-holes to get in your way.. Take 4 weeks and hunt the crap out of the interior for the month of Sept. You should be able to chase some moose and caribou in that time frame. Might run into a griz too. Just bring your wallet as fly outs are expensive, but puts you away from the road system hunters.

If I had limited means and time off, I'd move to the interior, and do the road hunting/weekend hunting from the road system.

While I have only been here a little over a year, I think SE AK is the place I would go. Since I joined the AF, I wanted to come to AK, and I am finally here. That being said, I don't care for Anchorage. From the research I did for what I want to hunt and fish, SE AK would be it, and take Calvin's advice and go to the interior once a year to hunt. Guys here do it just the opposite and go the SE AK to hunt bear, and deer.

I'll be the odd man out and offer a different take.

I live in the Interior (FBKS) but have been pretty fortunate to see a good bit of this state when guiding

not factoring in economic factors (hey maybe you are independently wealthy)

I'd opt for SW Alaska, Dillingham or Lake Illiamna area (if money truly is no object)

if you need to work, you can do so in Dilly, but it better be related to fishing or flying (grin)

moose, caribou (not as plentiful anymore but still some there) are available up the lake chain, waterfowl, and of course great fishing to be had too!

plenty of furbearers for trapping, wolverine, wolves and the smaller stuff too

about all you give up for hunting living there are Dall Sheep and goats maybe.


anyway that's my take......full disclaimer, I've not spent much of any time in SE Alaska

but ime SW Alaska is a sportsman's paradise

Shhhh..........

lol...

South East Alaska, in a float house. I lived there for years before moving to the interior. One year in South East we got 411" of rain so be prepaired. The hunting, fishing and quiet were exceptional. I know that my memories of the panhandle will be played on the last reel. The interior is not what it was when I first got up here 30+ years ago, but there is something about it that keeps me here and I have made it my home. My job allows me to travel all over the state and as others have said it is all great, even the Aleutians. The North Beach is a littie rough, but the whaling kind of makes up for it. Good luck!

Hmmmmm, no limiting factors. Pick a spot anywhere in the state and buy a turbine converted DeHavilland Otter with floats, wheels and skiis. Let me know if you need a hand flying her around!

That is the best idea yet! Might could get away with a Beaver!

SE has haidapotamus too.

OK, so we've narrowed it down to pretty much most of the state! which is what I expected. I appreciate the honest feedback and hopefully I can sniff out any false trails. I can understand not wanting to give up the info on what you hold dear. I suppose I'm the same way with certain things. I'm not independently wealthy so the beaver is probably out, but no welfare leach either. Just a hardworking midwesterner shaking my head at the direction our country seems to be heading. I like to think I'd be a good addition to your state. I expect we are pretty like minded.

Keep the thoughts coming. I appreciate the perspective.

It really takes a look-see, or two, before you make a decision. I assume you do not have close family ties here to lean on. I have lived in the following locations: Anchorage, Cold Bay, Farewell, McGrath, Yakutat, Fairbanks, Sitka, King Salmon, Kenai and Soldotna. I have covered the large majority of the state while flying airplanes around while hunting, fishing, air taxi, and what have you. I'm not sure anyone here is holding out on you. Like was stated before, anywhere you light will be a compromise if you "Want it all." If money was of no concern I would move back to Sitka. Protected water, decent fishing, crabs, abalone, hunting for black tails, goats and bears, and striking distance to a host of other stuff. Good schools, airline, ferry system, etc. And, I could park my turbine Otter on amphibious floats at my cabin on one of the islands.

The best advice is get up here and do what you need to do to make it. Wherever you end up could be heaven or hell, or both depending on your outlook and you make of your situation.

The worst thing to do is coming up with some preconcieved notion thinking you've got it figured out and know exactly where to settle and how to live off the land. Spend a couple years up here before finding the place for you and see as much of the state as possible.

Most of us have to make some compromises in terms of where we live being related to where we can find work in our given trade or profession.

Unfortunately those who have turned our country into an unfortunate direction seem to be spread throughout the state as well. While our state votes overwelming as a red state, we are a land of extremes on both geography and people.

To the OP, what kind of work do you do? That will tell you pretty quick where you can or cannot go in the state.

This is some pretty sound advice. However not always easy for the average guy to take a year or two to searching for the right place. However like 458 Lott said going up there with a clear and open mind is the number one thing.

The pic I posted previously I left unidentified intentionally. Truth be told, few people actually want to live in the "perfect" place you propose. The picture I posted is that of Shaktoolik. It's situated on a beach so I don't imagine they have much good soil (or that it is warm enough for long, if at all), but it does provide the other things you mention quite adequately. However, it would probably be very difficult to move into this or many other small places like it without having some sort of "in". But the Alaska that many people dream of as written by homesteaders in the 20s or 40s is not an Alaska that one will find with any ease at all these days. That's not to say that you won't find a great life and living up here. It's still hard; just in different ways. The closer to perfect you find in terms of your vision of what you want, the more likely you'll be challenged in what it takes to adapt. That's my take on 30 entirely rural years out here.

It's interesting to watch how the depth of thought has grown as this thread progresses. While it's fun to dream of that utopia, life teaches that reality rarely equals the romance of our dreams. That said, never stop dreaming. Some pretty sage advice has been offered up here.

In response to pabucktail, the work I do is one of the questions yet to be answered. I am currently trying to sell my ranch so I should have some seed money to start something. Been thinking about a fishing charter or small lodge. Wife always wanted to do a B&B. I'm not expecting or wanting "easy", and I thrive on hard work and a good challenge. Not needing to get rich, just provide for my family and have fun doing it. Anybody got any ideas on what could be successful up there?